Hurricane Florence is certainly causing a lot of worry and stress. Evacuees are leaving their homes behind, unsure of what they will return to. However, some are making the best of it. Fox News reports that some of those impacted by the Category 1 storm are turning it into an opportunity to meet someone new.
Journalist Claire Tran, 21, said she’s seen multiple bios on the dating app referencing Tinder in her area, Washington D.C. Tinder is tied to a user’s Facebook account and is location-specific, so there’s a good chance that anyone viewing profiles in the areas impacted by Florence would meet others who were as well.
“There’s a surprising [number] of people on DC Tinder from North and South Carolina that are just here for Hurricane Florence,” Tran said on her Twitter profile. “Literally have ‘hurricane evacuee’ or ‘just escaping the hurricane’ as their bio.”
Some of Tran’s matches, she said, even included pickup line such as “Let’s hurricane and chill?” implying that though evacuated, the thirst is still strong among those Tinder users. Finding love and comfort is never wrong, but people should use caution when traveling to meet a storm buddy.
Some users are trying to make Tinder dates turn into storm survival scenarios. Mackenzie Leone, a 24-year-old travel nurse from Greenville, SC, said that she has had a few offers.
“I’ve had one person ask me to be his ‘hurricane buddy’ and another guy even offered to come pick me up and take me back to his place to hang out before conditions get too bad to make sure I’m OK since I’m here all by myself,” she said. “Maybe my soul mate is out there in the storm somewhere.”
Others said that people were just trying to make the best of their situation and treating their evacuation as a mini-vacation. After all, no one expects them to meet any of their daily obligations during a Category 1 Hurricane, so they might as well enjoy the time.
Tran is still baffled about why anyone would jump on Tinder during a storm, however.
“I feel like if I were escaping a life-threatening hurricane that could destroy my house I wouldn’t even be changing my bio and trying swiping on Tinder,” she said.
However, sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants, and some of the lonely hearts escaping Hurricane Florence just want to Netflix, chill, and return home to a house that was not destroyed.
